Snow Angels
by aimlessly
Summary: Hiccup encounters a strange, beautiful girl in the woods. She won't speak, but Hiccup doesn't need her to. HiccupElsa.


**notes:** elsanna will always be my otp of all otp's, but the idea of these two is nice, too (i far prefer these two to jelsa, though, but we all know i'll end up writing for them too at some point lol.) so i had this idea and rolled with it, though it's still probably going to take a backseat to Sucker Love bc it's my baby. i don't know how long it's going to be — probably at least 10ish chapters, depending on how things go and how the story progresses. may become m later on, but for now a strong t rating for very dark themes is in place.

this is set a little while after the end of frozen and somewhere halfway between httyd and httyd 2.

enjoy, kiddos, and don't forget to leave me a review! x

* * *

Snow Angel

(in the land of gods and monsters, i was an angel living in the garden of evil.)

* * *

They're chasing the heavens.

The clouds are thick and dark grey, angry and rolling and heavy with condensation. Every so often they'll break through the thick layers of grey to see the sun, shining faithfully forever even when there's a storm and it's not expected to put on a show for anybody. Then they dip below them again, crashing into the water, the young boy's thrilled laughter carried across the island by the wind, drifting dangerously close to the impending storm.

Nobody ever said they were smart.

Below, he can see everything — how tiny Berk truly is in the midst of the dark, churning sea occasionally dotted with teeny tiny little green islands, slabs of rock covered in foliage, its forests that seem so vast while on foot reduced to tiny patches of green against brownish grey rocks. It's breathtaking and terrifying and a million things at once.

As they drift past Berk and he counts every tiny little island he sees, Toothless stops short, growling profusely, green eyes narrowing into slits as he peers at the island far, far below them.

The mud-brown and green earth is, in one particular spot, covered in white. It wouldn't be so peculiar, because it's still late winter and snow isn't uncommon in Berk or its tiny neighboring islands even during the warmer months, but the rest of the island remains thawed and snowless. It piques his curiosity, and, being Hiccup, he decides it's his duty to see what it is.

"C'mon, bud," he says excitedly, tapping Toothless' ear with his finger. The great beast shakes his hand off and snorts, annoyed, but regardless begins a fairly graceful dive towards the earth.

The feeling of flying always feels new to Hiccup, clutching tightly onto Toothless' back, hurtling through the air like a bullet, the world around him whirling into a watercolor painting, splotches of blue and brown and green and grey spinning around in his eyes.

Toothless slides as soon as he hits the ground, claws scratching for purchase in the dirt. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the ground has been frozen over — which isn't so strange, really, because this is (almost) Berk. Here, the ground being covered in ice is not entirely bizarre. But as he journeys deeper into the woods, the ice gets thicker and thicker, and it's getting harder and harder to see the ground beneath it.

Stepping into the clearing, the breath is sucked right out of his lungs.

The ground is completely covered in ice; it looks less like dirt covered in ice and more like water when it's frozen over, all white and shining which is frightening. The large, graceful pine trees are bent over, snapped in half and splintering with ice. The entire clearing looks like it's been hit by an ice storm.

Excitement flares up inside him. Ice dragons! They are quite rare — he's never seen one in person, only in the manuals and books from inside the Great Hall in the dim light of flickering candles.

"C'mon, bud," he urges Toothless again, gently but impatiently. The great black beast snarls and crouches low, slinking backwards into the trees. Hiccup frowns; Toothless continues backing up, disappearing into the thick foliage but Hiccup knows he won't go far; he'd never leave Hiccup alone to fend for himself. He's too protective for that.

Somewhere just beyond his line of sight, there's a rustling in the trees. Toothless snarls from his spot in the bushes.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Hiccup staggers towards the rustling, and stumbles right into an angel.

Hiccup is by no means a spiritual person. Not very much, anyway, and he certainly doesn't believe in angels, but this girl is as close to one as he thinks he'll ever get. Her white-blonde, loosely braided hair gives a halo effect amongst the green of the trees, her blue eyes huge and doe-like. Around her thin frame is wrapped a dress of ice blue silk, torn in several places and stained with dirt and splotches of red that make Hiccup's stomach churn. She looks, for the lack of better words, like the female Jokul Frosti, the winter sprite he's read about in the books of legends that line the shelves in his room.

Whatever she is, she certainly isn't a viking.

No. She's too pretty to be a viking, he decides. It's not that vikings can't be pretty, because Astrid is pretty, short blonde hair and huge electric blue eyes, but this girl is pretty in a way that vikings usually aren't. Fragile. Delicate. Like glass. He's scared that if he touches her she'll break.

"Hey," he murmurs gently, reaching out towards her. She shrinks back, closing her eyes shut tight and putting her hands on top of her head as if that's going to protect her. "Hey, it's okay. Are you lost?"

She blinks at him, once, twice, three times. Says nothing. He'll take that as a yes. He's always had a knack for communicating with creatures without voices, so he can figure this out, too.

It is, however, concerning to find a girl like a broken china doll, stumbling around blindly in the forest, unable to speak.

A rush of panic washes over him. "Did somebody hurt you? Or something? Was there a dragon?"

Upon hearing the final word, the girl's eyes widen almost comically and her mouth forms a straight line, signaling confusion. Has this girl never seen a dragon before? Hiccup frowns. "Dragons. Have you ever seen one?"

She shakes her head rapidly. Hiccup's eyes widen in surprise. Where did this girl come from, that she's never seen a dragon?

"I have a dragon," he says softly, and her eyes widen even more. "Would you like to see him?"

A rapid shake of the head makes the girl's preconceived notions about dragons painfully clear.

"He's friendly, I promise. He'd never hurt anyone, not even a fly," he assures her, but still she shrinks back, her tiny frame trembling from fear and probably the cold as well. And the question still remains — where did all the ice come from? What on earth is this girl doing all the way out here? Why won't she talk? She's clearly traumatized, and the notion is so terrifying Hiccup's head spins.

The questions swirl ceaselessly around in his brain, and he has to take a deep breath to center himself.

Whatever the circumstances, he is not leaving her here, even though every one of his instincts is screaming at him to turn around and clamber onto Toothless and get far, far away from this strange girl.

"Come on," he tries again, shivering a little as a freezing gust of wind whips across the island, seeping into his bones. The girl doesn't even flinch, instead remaining unblinking, eyes huge and skin white as the snow and ice. "I promise I won't hurt you," he says gently. "I want to help. I'm a friend."

The girl blinks once as that, slow and processing, a look that says _A friend?_

Hiccup nods reassuringly, crouching down so his eyes are level with hers. Her beauty is almost frightening up close. She doesn't even look real. Maybe she really is an angel. Or a ghost. He's never considered such things until now._  
_

"A friend," he assures her, smiling a little. She doesn't smile back, but the fear in her eyes recedes a little and she uncurls a little bit, leaning slightly towards him. She reaches out hesitantly, leaving her hand hovering right above his, as if she's unsure as to whether or not she should touch him. When she does, he almost jolts with how cold her skin is, but forces himself to keep his hand there. He doesn't want to spook her further.

Slowly, she slinks out of the bushes, standing timidly before him.

"Trust me," he says as she pulls her hand bag, nervously tugging at her braid. Now that she's in clear view, Hiccup sees a small, jagged cut peeking out from under her blonde bangs that have fallen slightly into her eyes. He frowns, uneasy, wondering if perhaps she's been attacked by some kind of animal. One that may still be lurking around somewhere.

It's not a big deal, because if there's anything out there Toothless will have it pinned to the ground in a split second, claws on either side of its neck, pulse throbbing against his enormous black paws. But the unease is creeping steadily back into his veins, and he wants to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Toothless," he calls to the empty air, watching the girl intently out of the corner of his eye. There is a soft snuffle from just out of view, and then Toothless is slinking towards them, eyeing the strange girl curiously. She flinches, nearly falling backwards in fright, and Toothless snarls at her. She skitters back, landing on the cold, hard ground with a sharp thud.

"No, no, it's okay," Hiccup blurts quickly, reaching out to her and holding and holding his other palm out, signaling for Toothless to stop. But the girl still trembles in fear, lower lip shaking and hands stretched out before her, like she's going to push him away. "Toothless, sit," he commands, and the dragon narrows his eyes but obeys, flopping onto the icy ground, but not before shooting Hiccup a glare that on any other occasion would make him laugh.

"I promise he's not going to hurt you. He's friendly." The girl looks wholly unconvinced. "Here," he says, an idea forming in his head. "My name is Hiccup." He walks slowly over to Toothless, pulling his sketchbook from the side pouch on his saddle. Opening the book, he flips to a blank page in the very back, spelling out his name for her. She slowly moves from her defensive crouch on the ground and peers curiously at the page. "And this," he gestures vaguely to the scaly black beast sitting impatiently behind him, "is Toothless." He flips to a page with one of his many drawings of the dragon.

The girl bites her lip, looking from the drawing to Toothless, back to drawing and finally to Hiccup.

"What's your name?" he asks. She cocks her head curiously at him, uneasy. "Your name," he repeats, and she nods in understanding. Hiccup hands her the book, but she ignores it, instead reaching for a stick lying a few feet away.

In the dirt, pursing her lips in concentration, she scrawls something. When she's finished, she steps away and looks right at Hiccup, gesturing for him to look.

_Elsa, _it reads. _Elsa._

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i've had this in my head for a while now and i just really, really needed to get it out. thanks for reading, my loves, and let me know what you think?


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